Pedals & effects

Configuring the board

Fifteen effects you can add, remove, and bypass independently. Each knob runs 0–10; here's exactly what every one does.

The board (add / remove / bypass)

rusty-amp pedal board

The Guitar Rig shows one compact tile per pedal that's on the board, followed by a + ADD tile. Tab or / to a tile to load it into the full-size editor below — the editor takes on the pedal's livery colour. Only enabled pedals are on the board at startup; everything else lives in the picker.

Key Action
Enter / Space (on + ADD) Open the picker listing pedals not on the board
/ Navigate the picker
Enter (in picker) Add the selected pedal and jump focus to it
Esc Close the picker
D (on a pedal) Remove it from the board
Space (on a pedal) Bypass / un-bypass it without removing it
Chain order is fixed and follows the signal flow shown on the header ribbon: Gate → Whammy → Wah → Comp → Fuzz → TS-808 → DS-1 → ML-2 → Pre-EQ → AmpCab → Parametric EQ → Flanger → Chorus → Phaser → Delay → Reverb. Where a pedal sits in that order is part of its character — see How it works.

All pedals

Pick a pedal to load it into the editor — exactly like tabbing to its tile in the app. Every knob runs 0–10.

An envelope follower drives a smooth gain ramp (no clicks) that silences hum and string noise between phrases. Runs first so it cleans the rawest signal.

Thresh0–10 Gate open threshold. 0 = opens at very low levels (−80 dB), 10 = always open. Start around 2–3 for high-gain tones.
Release0–10 How long the gate stays open after the signal drops below threshold. Higher = slower, more natural decay.

A time-domain pitch shifter that transposes your note up or down by up to an octave. It sits right after the gate — a real whammy's spot, in front of everything — so the shifted note is what the compressor and drives then work on: octave-down for a fake-baritone heaviness, octave-up shrieks and dive-bombs feeding raw into the distortion. Two crossfaded grains sweep a delay line at the pitch ratio; a little warble is inherent to the method and part of the whammy character.

Pitch0–10 Transpose interval. 0 = −12 semitones (octave down), 5 = unison, 10 = +12 semitones (octave up).
Mix0–10 Dry/wet blend. 0 = dry, 10 = fully wet (full dive-bomb / pure interval).
Tone0–10 Low-pass on the wet path, taming the granular fizz. 0 = dark (~800 Hz), 10 = open (~10 kHz).

A resonant bandpass whose peak is swept by an envelope follower — the filter "opens" as you dig in and closes as the note decays. A real wah is treadle-swept, but a terminal has no expression pedal, so your picking dynamics drive it: with Sens at 0 it's a static "cocked wah" parked at the Freq position; turn Sens up and it's a dynamic, vocal auto-wah. Sits early — after the whammy, before the compressor and the drives — so it rides raw pick dynamics (a compressor ahead of it would flatten the envelope it sweeps on) and the vocal quack is what the distortion then saturates, the classic wah-into-fuzz voice. Built on a TPT state-variable filter so the peak can sweep continuously with no per-sample coefficient-rebuild cost.

Freq0–10 Base peak position (the heel-down point), ~300 Hz–1.5 kHz. With Sens at 0 this is a fixed cocked-wah tone.
Sens0–10 How far the envelope sweeps the peak up from the base (0 = static, 10 = a wide auto-sweep on your picking).
Q0–10 Resonance — the sharpness of the peak. Higher = a narrower, more vocal "quack".
Mix0–10 Dry/wet blend. A real wah is fully wet (10); a lower blend keeps some dry body under the filter.

Sits right after the gate, before the drive stages, so it evens out picking dynamics and adds sustain going into the amp — the classic “studio” upgrade for clean and edge-of-breakup tones. A peak-follower detector drives a hard-knee gain computer; auto makeup keeps the level steady as you add compression.

Sustain0–10 Compression amount — lowers the threshold (−6 dB → −40 dB) and raises the ratio (2:1 → 10:1). Higher = more squash and sustain.
Attack0–10 How fast the compressor clamps a transient (0.5 ms → 50 ms). Low = snappy/tight, high = lets the pick attack through.
Level0–10 Output makeup gain (≈0–2×). 5 = unity with auto makeup.

Big-Muff-style fuzz that runs first in the drive chain so it sees the rawest pickup signal. Two cascaded clipping stages give the long, singing sustain and near-square saturation of a vintage fuzz — much heavier than the TS or DS-1. The voice is mid-scooped at 700 Hz for the classic “wall of sound” timbre.

Fuzz0–10 Sustain/gain into the two cascaded soft-clip stages. High values drive the waveform toward a gated square wave.
Tone0–10 Low-pass after the scoop. 0 = dark/woolly (~400 Hz), 10 = bright/buzzy (~6 kHz).
Level0–10 Output volume of the pedal into the next stage.

The legendary mid-hump boost — asymmetric diode clipping that tightens the low end and pushes an amp into focused saturation. Great as a clean boost into an already-driven amp.

Drive0–10 Pre-clip gain (1×–51×). High values push the asymmetric diode clippers into saturation.
Tone0–10 Low-pass cutoff after clipping. 0 = dark (~500 Hz), 10 = bright (~7 kHz).
Level0–10 Output volume of the pedal into the next stage.

More aggressive than the TS, with a cubic clip stage and a seesaw “tilt” tone control that trades bass for treble around 1 kHz.

Drive0–10 Gain into the cubic clip stage (1×–61×). More aggressive than the TS.
Tone0–10 Tilt control (bass↔treble seesaw around ~1 kHz). 0 = dark & full, 5 = flat, 10 = bright & cutting.
Level0–10 Output volume of the pedal into the next stage.

The Boss ML-2 Metal Core — an ultra-high-gain distortion built to make any amp sound metal on its own. Far more gain than the DS-1, from two cascaded clipping stages that saturate then square off into a long, compressed, singing sustain. A fixed mid-scoop gives it that aggressive metal voice, and a powerful active two-band EQ (Low/High, ±15 dB) reshapes the whole tone. Runs last in the drive chain, after the DS-1, so it's the most aggressive stage feeding the pre-amp EQ. Tightened on both sides of the clipper and 8× oversampled so the brutal gain stays articulate, not fizzy.

Dist0–10 Gain into the two cascaded clip stages (1×–101× on the first, plus a fixed second push). High = a wall of compressed saturation.
Low0–10 Active low shelf at 120 Hz, ±15 dB. 5 = flat, 0 = tight/thin, 10 = a bass-heavy wall.
High0–10 Active high shelf at 3.2 kHz, ±15 dB. 5 = flat, 0 = dark, 10 = bright and cutting.
Level0–10 Output volume of the pedal into the next stage.

Sits before the amp, so it shapes the signal that the gain stage actually clips — a different job from the post-cab Parametric EQ, which colours the final mix. Scoop the mids going in for a tighter chug, or push them for lead sustain. All three bands map 0–10 to −12 dB → 0 dB → +12 dB; centre (5.0) is flat.

Low100 Hz Low shelf.
Mid650 Hz Peak (Q 1.0).
High3 kHz High shelf.

Post-cabinet — shapes the final stereo tone after distortion. All three bands map 0–10 to −15 dB → 0 dB → +15 dB; centre (5.0) is unity gain.

Low120 Hz Low shelf.
Mid800 Hz Peak (Q 1.5).
High5 kHz High shelf.

A short LFO-swept delay mixed back with the dry signal — the moving comb-filter notches give the classic metallic “jet plane” sweep. Sits after the cab and parametric EQ, before the delay, so it modulates the finished tone ahead of the ambience. The two channels read one LFO a quarter-cycle apart, so the sweep drifts across the stereo field.

Rate0–10 LFO speed, 0.05–5 Hz (exponential). Low = a slow, deep whoosh; high = a fast warble.
Depth0–10 Sweep width — how far the delay swings (~0.5 ms up to ~5 ms). Higher = a wider, more dramatic sweep.
Feedback0–10 Regeneration (0–90%). Feeds the swept tap back in, sharpening the notches into a resonant, ringing voice.
Mix0–10 Dry/wet blend. 0 = dry, 5 = deepest flange (equal dry/wet), 10 = fully wet.

A long LFO-swept delay (~8–20 ms) mixed back with the dry signal — much longer than the flanger's sub-millisecond tap and with no feedback, so instead of a metallic comb sweep you get lush pitch-shimmer: several slightly detuned, slightly delayed copies of the note. Sits after the flanger, before the delay, modulating the finished tone ahead of the ambience. The two channels read one LFO half a cycle apart, so the shimmer drifts across the stereo field and widens the image.

Rate0–10 LFO speed, 0.05–5 Hz (exponential). Low = a slow, glassy drift; high = a fast, vibrato-like warble.
Depth0–10 Sweep width — how far the delay swings (up to ~12 ms). Higher = more detuning and a thicker, more obvious effect.
Mix0–10 Dry/wet blend. 0 = dry, 5 = classic chorus (equal dry/wet), 10 = fully wet (pitch-vibrato).

The third sibling to the flanger and chorus — but where those sweep a delay line, the phaser sweeps a cascade of four all-pass filters and sums the result with the dry signal. The all-pass chain is flat on its own; the notches only appear in the dry+wet sum, gliding up and down the spectrum for that hollow, vocal "whoosh" (Phase 90 / Small Stone territory). Sits after the chorus, before the delay, in stereo — the two channels read one LFO a quarter-cycle apart so the sweep drifts across the image.

Rate0–10 LFO speed, 0.05–5 Hz (exponential). Low = a slow, deep swirl; high = a fast throb.
Depth0–10 Sweep width — how far the all-pass break frequency glides (~200 Hz up to ~1.6 kHz). Higher = a wider, more dramatic sweep.
Feedback0–10 Regeneration (0–90%). Feeds the wet output back in, sharpening the notches into resonant, throaty peaks.
Mix0–10 Dry/wet blend. 0 = dry, 5 = deepest phase (equal dry/wet), 10 = fully wet (the notches fade as the dry sum vanishes).

Stereo ping-pong: feedback cross-feeds the two channels so repeats bounce left ↔ right.

Time0–10 Delay time 0–500 ms.
Feedback0–10 Repeat level. Capped at 85% internally to prevent runaway.
Mix0–10 Dry/wet blend.

Two decorrelated Freeverb cores (the right channel's delay lines are offset) produce a wide, deep stereo tail.

Room0–10 Decay time (Freeverb room size).
Damp0–10 High-frequency absorption in the feedback path.
Mix0–10 Dry/wet blend (0 = fully dry, 10 = fully wet).
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